Stewart Copeland

The drummer from the popular band The Police. Stewart was actually the founding member of the band and recruited both bassist Sting (Gordon Sumner), and guitarist Andy Summers. His drumming style is fairly unorthodox. He often places his snare hits in the strangest places and often smacks the side of his snare drum loudly. He and Sting make up one of the most interesting rhythm sections of rock music. Although they made great music together, Stewart suffered a huge love/hate relationship with Sting, which slowly gravitated to a hate relationship and helped to cause the breakup of the band. This was so serious, in fact, that they could be seen brawling. It is rumoured that once he set up his drum set backwards so that he wouldn't have to face Sting.

Stewart Copeland grew up in the Middle East with a father who was in the CIA, went to college in California and in 1975 played drums in a progressive rock group called Curved Air. It was when this band broke up that he joined The Police, in which he gained publicity as a drummer.

Copeland then focused on writing film scores, operas and ballets. After visiting Africa, he released an album entitled The Rhythmatist. He wrote the music for the television series The Equalizer and collaborated with artists such as Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford. He also lent his musical talent to productions by the San Francisco Ballet, the Cleveland Opera and Ballet Oklahoma.

In March of 2003, Copeland filed a $1 million breach of contract suit against a band called The Doors 21st Century after the band replaced him with another drummer, Ty Dennis. It was thought that Dennis would be a temporary replacement, but the group made it clear that it was permanent. The lawsuit was settled in June of 2003, but the terms of the agreement were not revealed.